well, after some encouragement, I decided to add to my blog in case others
are interested in my doings.

Today I am starting on my semi-successful career autocrossing!!

I am going back in time here, but I think I remember it somewhat, I think...

I had tried a little racing back in April 2007. I ran a PCA DE event. I had an
instructor with me, and was getting the hang of it when my engine started to make funny noises. I stopped and then tried to drive home. No dice...

I made it 10 of the 40 miles when the power went to 0, the oil pressure wasn't far behind, and the noise was horrendous!!

One of the guys came with his truck and trailer and took me home.

Can't say enough for these guys! One guy towing a Viper stopped as well on his way home to make sure I was okay... All for a NARP...

Well, anyway, I bought 1.7 engine from a guy for $100 (with 90% of a D-Jet and a 32/36 Weber). Got it in and running (long story..) and have been driving it ever since. Picked out most of the impeller blades and the large bolt from the cooling fins under the sheet metal...

Just a note, the 1.8 I pulled out is actually a 2.0 bus engine, and the 1.7 has a 1.8 case with 1.7 heads, so who knows what it is actually.
The 2.0 has one connecting rod with MAJOR play at the crank end.

I set the 1.7 up with L-Jet since I was familiar with it, and have been driving it for a while.

Okay, so after all this, I heard about autocrosses at one of the Naval airfields in town so I went down to check it out. I found a bunch of people there, and a guy
who encouraged me to try it. I told him if I could pass inspection, I would!

Of course, I passed, so I entered and went to the course. In Corpus Christi, we run on an old naval auxilliary airfield. Most of the course is set on taxiways, with occasional forays onto the runways.

That first month, Nov '07, I just ran the car. My first run was fun! I had walked the course, so I knew where to go. When I got back after my first run, They suggested that I take someone with me to show me the course, sine I skipped a few of the tricky parts!!

Well, my horn died! I could hear the relay clicking, but no beep. So, I decided to
install air horns. 9.99 at Harbor Freight! Plenty of room behind the '75 bumpers.
I installed the compressor, horns,and tubing. I kept the tubing short to minimize
delays. It didn't work!!

I traced the wires back, and found that I had pulled them loose in the front trunk!
Hooked up, they worked!! A little delay, but not too bad. I'll test them out this
week.

Now,I have to fix the emergency brake and the hot start problem. These cars are
fun!

I've driven now about 4500 miles in the past month. The problems have been
relatively minor, and I have had good support. My butt is sore, but I love driving
this car!

I bought some cheap driving lights from Harbor Freight, just to try out.

After studying the wiring diagrams, and the stuff on 914club, and figured I could
do it! I removed the lower dash pad, the headlight switch, and tried to find all
the wires. Finally, I found three wires, abut one was gray/red,and the diagram
showed black/red. After studying it for a while, I decided that was the balck/red
wire. I hooked it up and it worked! I could hear the relay clicking and everything!

Now, I have to get the lights in place! I carefully cut out the rubber from the
bumper, and removed the two 10 mm screws and could get at the mounts. I
put the lights in and was able to tighten them down fairly well. The lights are not
that stable, being all plastic! ANyway, I wired them in and they worked. I need to
do a little work aiming them better, but I was really proud of myself!

Now I need to get JWEST's flasher thingie, and also a new fuse panel. I think they
may be the next thing to buy, if I get some money!! The fuses are a little
old, and I don't like the German fuses anyway.

What can I say? RRC was a lot of fun!

I drove there over 4 days. First leg was to Plainview TX. From there,
I drove to Brant's parent's house. What nice people! They had never met me,
but they welcomed me in and had agood time.

From there, I drove to Brant's house. Again, wonderful hospitality! I fixed a few
things there. I hada bad vibration, so I swapped tires front to back. That got rid
of most of that. I also bypassed the thermal circuit breaker for the headlights.
They would trip it! THen I could drive at night.

We met the others just west of Denver, and found out that it was snowing over
the passes in the mountains. We went anyways! It was cold! When we got near
to the Eisenhower tunnel, it started snowing! By the top, the windshield was icing!
By the time we got through it there was an inch of ice on the road. Not much fun,
but we made it down the other side safely, and into rain until we got to the Utah
border.

By the time I got to Moab, my car would not start, and the clutch was not
disengaging. I adjusted the clutch, got a push, and went for the ride!

I fixed the starter the next morning, dirty contacts. What beautiful country.
Amazing red rocks and strange balancing rocks, etc!!

Sunday I hung around with Joe,Luckie, Jon, and Liz waiting for their trailer to
arrive. We drove back to Farmington, and I lost my clutch completely! Liz's car
was on the trailer, so she pulled out her clutch cable and we put it in my car! We
went out to eat, closed the bar, and they stayed up until 3 AM. Ah, youth!

Fun time though! I'm planning to go next year! Oh yeah, I won "Fartest travel",
a gas can, and $50 gift certificate that pays for Liz's clutch cable!!

I have been remiss in updating this thing, even though I may be to the only
person to read it!

My last entry, I was complaining of missing. I found that problem. The FI CHT
was loose! That would cause the engine to go super rich, I think, and not run right!

After refitting the CHT, the engine ran very hot. So, I added a potentiometer
in place of the CHT, andnow can tune the engine on the fly.

I checked it, and found that the engine will run cool, with about 1.8 Kohms in the
circuit. This should be pretty rich, but at least the engine is under 400 degrees
on my CHT gauge. My gas mileage reflectrs that, low 20's (MPG). Oh well,
at least it isn't burning up. Part of that may bethe lack of engine tin over the
engine. There is a hole on the port side for the heater fan, and a bigger hole
where the AC compressor used to be!

I decided if I were going to go to RRC, I needed to tell if the car is
running too hot. I know my compression is very low, but, if I
am running cool enough, it might be worth the risk.

I ordered a cylinder head temperature kit and a voltmeter from
egauges.com. Their prices are okay, although I could probably
do better than that. Anyway, they arrived.

I cut a new panel for the center console, and added a couple of
gauge holes in it. Initially I had a very hard time getting the
CHT sensor kooked up. I couldn't get it under the #3 sparkplug as
desired. I put it under the fuel injection CHT. This was not ideal, but
seemed to work. The temperature was low, but I figured the trend
would be valid. I was quickly told that was NOT true, and the only
place to put the sensor was under #3.

That took a lot of thought, I am not as fast as I used to be. Finally,
I decided to drill a new hole in the cooling shroud to allow the wire
to clear. I did that and wasable to get the gauge installed.

So, I got both the voltmeter and the CHT hooked up. It was nice
that the later cas hve all the wiring necessary! To put the CHT in, I drilled
a hole in the center of the rear firewall. Wiring was easy. I also added
a power inverter to the console since I use the computer so much. It is
not hooked up yet.

The CHT showed that the temperature was a little hot! It was running
almost 450 degrees at highway speeds. That worried me! Indications
were that the temps should be 375-400. I happened to check the oil
level and I was almost a quart down. Adding that brought the temps to
360-375!

The voltmeter showed voltage of 12+ v off, and 14-15 v running. Turning
on the lights dropped the voltage a lot, as I expected. verall, I was happy!

However, and this seems to be the story of my life, once one problem is
fixed, another couple are created. Now I am dealing with a deadspot
problem. The car starts missing at higher RPM's and won't idle again!
I am getting exhaust backfires. I also broke the AAR!

I knew I had airleaks, so I decided to clean them up. I pulled the AFS
amnd the throttle body. I checked the throttle switch, and put
everything back in. I also pulled the AAR, and found the elbow was broken.
I got some more hose, and fixed that.
Then, when I started the car, it would start, and then die dead, no voltage.
I finally found that the wires t the AAR were shorted. I had broken the
connector. When power wwent to the AAR right after starting, the electrical
system shorted out. I took out the AAR completely, I don't really need it!

Now, the miss has increased, and the car won't idle at all! I'm frustrated!!!

I thought I'd create a new list from Page 1.

I have corrected so many that it will be easier to make a new list.

1. Wheel shake - the steering whell shakes at most speeds, but it does not do it
all the time. Seems like some things need to sync up to create the shake. It
did it before the new tires, and after, so I think it is something else. I suspect
the re-drilled rotors (4 to 5 lug) that are at fault. I'll figure it out one day.

2. The headlights are dim, and not aimed properly. I need to get new lights!

3. I need instrument panel lights bulbs.

4. Need to work on the ventilation system, and maybe also fix the heater!

5. Need to find sun visor mounts.

6. Speedometer is not calibrated right due to the tire size change. Placeholder!

7. Odometer does not work.

8. Transmission problems - no 1st synchro, some grind in 2nd (shifter?)

9. Wiper motor does not park. Need to pull trunk to fix.

10. Need to clean all the fuses and holders!

11. Need a lot of body work.

12. Would like a front sway bar. Also need to pull the tank to install!

13. Need to install CHT, voltmeter, and power inverter.

14. The steering wheel has play inthe top bearing.

This is the current list. I feel good that I have been able to fix so many things.
There are still lot to do!

fsghjghjkhjkhj

I had a really good day yesterday!

I did a few little projects on the car, and they worked out well for a change.

I fixed the high beam indicator light. WEll,I didn'treally fix it, it appears that
the cover lens isblackedout. So, I moved it to the directional indicator spot!

I then went and got the car inspected. Craig was not there, so I got to drive
the car myself. Much easier! Easy inspection, and he didn't even check the
high beam indicator!

Got my registration done too. It took two trips, as I forgot to bring the title,
but that was okay.

I alsogot the newside mirror fixed. A local guy cut and fitted a new mirror and
glued it in. Drilling the new holes to mount it on the right side was tricky with
only one good hand. It was hard to get up in there and centerpunch a mark to
drill through. I got it done though. Looks good!

I installed my tow bracket this morning. It was pretty easy, took about an hour.

First problem was that the end caps on the torsion bar protectors were held on
by large allen head bolts. Noe of my allen wrenches were large enough, until I
dug into the SAE set and found an 8 mm equivalent. That fit well enough, and
fortunately they came loose.

The main torsion bar bolts cameoff pretty easily, and although ther ewas a little
motion, they stayed reasonably aligned. I had been concerned about that!

Trying to get the barcket in place was tricky until Ibalanced it on the floor jack and
lifted it into place. Got the new bolts aligned, and tightened down the bar. The
fron two bolts are none too long though. The rears had to be just about tight
before they would thread in. Everything tightened up well though.

I need some pictures to show it in place, but it is very low profile.

Found a few othe things to llook at, there are a few little holes in the front of the
belly pan. None of them look like rust,but they do need to be sealed!